# Iberia Compensation Claim: Delays & Cancellations

> Claim €250, €400 or €600 from Iberia — but check first whether Iberia Express or Air Nostrum flew you, because the operating carrier owes the money.

- Canonical: https://flightclaimletters.pages.dev/guides/iberia-compensation/
- Section: By airline (https://flightclaimletters.pages.dev/guides/#airlines)
- Published: 2 Sept 2026 · Updated: 6 Sept 2026 · Figures checked: 6 Sept 2026 · 5 min read
- Source site: flightclaimletters — https://flightclaimletters.pages.dev/ · General information, not legal advice.

Iberia owes €250, €400 or €600 by distance for a three-hour arrival delay, a cancellation with under 14 days' notice, or denied boarding. It is licensed in Spain, so EU261 covers every flight it operates out of the EU and into the EU. Check who operated the flight before you claim: many "Iberia" flights are not Iberia.

Which figure applies is set by distance to your final destination, not by your fare — the bands are in the [amounts table](/guides/eu261-uk261-amounts/).

## Which regime applies to your Iberia flight

| Your flight | Regime |
|---|---|
| Departs an EU airport, or arrives in the EU from outside on Iberia | **EU261** — euro amounts, enforcement body of the country you left |
| Departs a UK airport | **UK261** — sterling amounts, CAA route, but no ADR scheme lists Iberia |

## Iberia Express and Air Nostrum are separate airlines

Article 2(b) puts the obligation on the **operating carrier** — the airline that actually flew the aircraft — not on whoever's code is on the ticket. Our carrier file records that many flights sold as Iberia are operated by **Iberia Express** or **Air Nostrum** (Iberia Regional), and a codeshare can put an IB number on a partner's aircraft.

So the first thing to read is the "operated by" line on your booking, and the first name in your letter is that airline. A claim aimed at the wrong company in the group comes back rejected on the technicality rather than on the merits, months later. See [which airline actually owes you](/guides/codeshare-which-airline-pays/).

## Iberia is the airline in the case that widened "denied boarding"

In **Rodríguez Cachafeiro v Iberia** ([C-321/11](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A62011CJ0321), 4 October 2012) two passengers with confirmed reservations were stopped from boarding their connection because the airline expected them to miss it after its own earlier delay. The Court of Justice held that this is **denied boarding** under Article 4, not merely a delay — the concept is not limited to overbooking.

That is the most under-used ruling in the field. If you were turned away at the gate of a connecting flight you had a confirmed seat on, you are in Article 4 territory: compensation, plus the choice of a refund or re-routing, plus care. Use the [denied-boarding letter](/guides/denied-boarding-letter/).

## We could not confirm a claim URL

We do not publish an airline link we could not open. On 6 September 2026 iberia.com answered our automated check with a Spanish error page on its claims paths and HTTP 403 on the rest, so no claim URL is listed for Iberia in our carrier file. Use its customer-service pages in a browser, keep the case reference, and put the claim in writing with a date for a reply.

## Which band you are in, and when it can be halved

The €600 band needs more than 3,500 km with one end outside the EU — the long-haul sectors out of Madrid. Any flight with both ends inside the EU is capped at €400 by Article 7(1)(b), however far it goes. On one booking the band is measured over the whole journey to your final destination.

Article 7(2) lets the airline halve the amount only where it **re-routes** you and you land within 2, 3 or 4 hours of your original arrival, by band; the Court in *Sturgeon* ([paragraph 63](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A62007CJ0402)) applies the same reduction to a flight of more than 3,500 km that arrives three to under four hours late, giving €300. Ask which limb the airline is using and what arrival time it is counting.

## Where an Iberia claim goes after a refusal

- **EU departures.** Spain's enforcement body is **AESA**; its [passenger-rights page](https://sede.seguridadaerea.gob.es/sede-aesa/areas-tematicas/derechos-de-los-pasajeros) carries the complaint form, and it acts on a claim the airline has already answered or ignored. For a departure from another EU country, use that country's body from the [Commission's list](https://transport.ec.europa.eu/transport-themes/passenger-rights/national-enforcement-bodies-neb_en).
- **UK departures.** On 6 September 2026 Iberia was on neither AviationADR's nor CEDR's member list, so the UK route is CAA PACT, which cannot make a binding decision.

> **Avios is not compensation unless you say so.** Article 7(3) pays in cash, by electronic bank transfer, bank order or cheque, and allows a voucher or points only with your signed agreement. An offer of miles does not close the claim, and refusing it does not weaken it.

## My "Iberia" flight was operated by Iberia Express. Who pays?

The operating carrier — Iberia Express, Air Nostrum or whichever airline the booking names. Address the letter to that airline and quote Article 2(b) if the group tries to pass you between entities.

## Iberia stopped me boarding my connection. Is that denied boarding?

If you held a confirmed reservation on that flight and were refused carriage without a reasonable ground, yes — that is what *Rodríguez Cachafeiro* (C-321/11) decided against Iberia. Denied boarding is not limited to overselling.

## How long do I have to claim against Iberia?

There is no EU-wide deadline; the period comes from national law, and we do not print a Spanish figure we have not verified against the statute. Ask AESA, and in the meantime claim now — the evidence is what decides the case.

## Rules in force today

This is the law that applies to a flight you take today. A revision of Regulation 261/2004 was adopted in July 2026 — the Parliament approved the conciliation text on 7 July 2026 and the Council gave final approval on 13 July 2026 — and it is not yet in force: it applies 12 months after it enters into force following publication in the Official Journal, and the final text sets the details. See [what the 2026 EU261 reform changes](/guides/eu261-reform-2026/).